Saturday, December 3, 2011

Holiday (1930)

The story of two sisters and a young man who is torn between his free-thinking lifestyle and the tradition of his wealthy fiancée's family. [wiki]

Nominated for 2 Oscars:

Best Actress: Ann HardingBest Writing, Adaptation

This was the first film adaptation of the play written by Philip Barry, but not the best known one. Nowadays, there's seem to be a lot of passion for the 1938 version, with Katharine Hepburn & Cary Grant, a film I have yet to see. Almost nobody talks about this 1930 stagey film, as few have heard of an actress called Ann Harding.

And it's true: nothing groundbreaking about this film, but it's not bad either. Ann Harding has lots of charisma and energy, so I can understand why the nomination. But it was her bitchy sister played by Mary Astor (gorgeous!) that I would've wanted to know more about. The film itself moves along fine, never too boring, never demanding, but not a great thrill either.

My rating for the film: 6/10. And I will also watch the Hepburn version at one point.